That should be against the law.

Western North Carolina District Attorney Charles Hipps hears that refrain a lot, probably more than most people. Comes with the territory.

After talking to him several weeks ago for a story I was working on about Internet and electronic crime, I had a different thought: Perhaps being ignorant enough to get duped and then turn to the justice system for a legal or civil remedy ought to be against the law. It would save a lot of the rest of us from the whining and the lawsuits.

Hipps and his associates rely on federal authorities when a case comes before them that requires high-level computer expertise. The feds, mainly the FBI and SBI, have trained computer forensic experts who can retrieve information from computer hard drives that can convict criminals, whether they be child pornographers or just basic rip-off artists using the Internet as their marketplace.

The computer thiefs don’t get as much attention as the high-profile pornography cases, but computer fraud is the most prolific of electronic crimes. People have found an anonymous marketplace where they can sell goods, and that leads some to either sell at exorbitantly high prices or to sell and then not deliver the goods.

It’s stealing, though, no matter how one looks at it. It’s like the old snake oil salesman who would roll into town in his wagon, sell potions and salves to cure all sorts of ills, and be miles away before the villagers figured out they’d been hoodwinked.

Too often, however, people allow themselves to be taken advantage of. People might find a deal on the Internet that sounds too good to be true, and yet they fall like a rock and take the bait. Hipps’ basic warning to constituents: if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is.

Very often, there is no criminal remedy for those who have gotten ripped off via the Internet. If one person sells one product for $1,000 on e-bay that was worth only $100, there are few law enforcement agencies who could take the time and trouble to initiate an investigation that would lead to a conviction. People simply get duped and make bad choices, Hipps said.

In other words — my words, not Hipps’ — too many people are too dumb to figure out what’s up, and so they want law enforcement to get involved. Me, I want the DA’s office, the SBI and local police chasing bank robbers, child rapists, drunk drivers and figuring out this antrhax mess, not helping out someone too ignorant to make an Internet purchase without getting the bad end of the deal.

That’s not to say there isn’t real fraud going on that needs to be investigated. It is happening right now and on hundreds of websites. But let the buyer beware. If that person selling the $100 item for $1,000 dollars is ripping off dozens or hundreds of people, then it becomes a crime law enforcement will take on. An FBI agent in Charlotte told me that those are the kinds of decisions his office must make — is it a case of one or two people making a bad decision or a large-scale scam.

I also believe that allowing huge civil awards to be given out when large corporations or organizations are at fault is not such a bad thing. Sure, too many Americans abuse our system and sue for outrageous sums for minor infractions or outright crazy incidents. And they win. But without that ability to pin the ears of multi-national and billion dollar companies to the wall, many unscrupulous businesspeople will knowingly sell us dangerous and even faulty goods.

But large civil awards and the current increases in Internet fraud are not the same thing. The computer may be a great shopping tool and a good place to find great deals, but don’t get suckered. Because if you do, it’s downright impossible to get your local police to bust some guy whose ripping you off from the basement of his mom’s house in some village in Saskatchewan while tossing back Mooseheads.

Perhaps that’s all the more reason to spend your money down the street instead of over the Internet.

(Scott McLeod can be reached at info@smokymountainnews.com or at 452.4251.)

 

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